KEY B1G EAST BATTLE SATURDAY IN EAST LANSING

Following a hard-fought home win over Nebraska, No. 10 (CFP) Ohio State begins a two-game road swing with a key East Division contest on Saturday against Michigan State. Kickoff from Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Mich. is set for noon with FOX televising.

The Buckeyes are coming off their best rushing performance since the season opener, as they compiled 229 yards on 40 carries against the Cornhuskers. Included in that was a 42-yard game-clinching TD run by J.K. Dobbins, who had a season-high 163 yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries. Teammate Mike Weber added 91 yards on nine carries.

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QB Dwayne Haskins continued on his record-breaking pace, going over the 3,000-yard passing mark for the season while also tossing two touchdowns. He has 32 TDs on the season against just six interceptions.

On defense, safety Brendon White made the most of his ﬁrst extensive action, totaling a team-high 13 tackles along with two tackles-for-loss. Teammate Malik Harrison also had 13 stops and is currently tied with safety Jordan Fuller for the team lead with 48 tackles on the season.
Quick Hitters

Dobbins rushed for his season-high of 163 yards in the win over Nebraska and, in the process, recorded the ﬁrst three-touchdown day of his career with rushing touchdowns of 10, 3 and 42 yards.
Ohio State and Michigan State are the No. 1 and No. 4 winningest programs in the Big Ten over the last 15 years. The Buckeyes have 149 wins since 2004 while Michigan State has 120.
Haskins, who has already set the single-season completions record, is 278 yards from the single-season yardage record, currently held by Joe Germaine.
Included in coach Urban Meyer’s 51-4 Big Ten record is a 24-3 mark in confer-ence road games. His ﬁrst Big Ten win, in fact, came in 2012 in East Lan-
sing, 17-16.
Ohio State ran for 229 yards against Nebraska, its second highest output of the season. Michigan State boasts the nation’s No. 1-ranked rush defense (71.7 yds. per game).

Notes to Know

RATHER GRAND, OR TWO GRAND!

For the ﬁrst time in school history Ohio State has two running backs with at least 2,000 career rushing yards. Weber has 2,329 yards and Dobbins joined him in the two grand club Saturday, netting 163 that put him at 2,087 career yards. Ohio State had previously had RB and QB teammates – three times – with at least 2,000 rushing yards, but never two RBs.

The Buckeyes are 8-0 in games that Dobbins rushes for at least 100 yards and the team is 7-0 in games that Weber rushes for at least 100 yards. Weber’s 100s: 2016 vs. Bowling Green, Oklahoma, Rutgers and Michigan State; 2017 vs. Michigan State and Illinois; and 2018 vs. Oregon State. Dobbins’ 100s: 2017 vs. Indiana, Army, Nebraska, Michigan State, Michigan and Wisconsin; and 2018 vs. TCU and Nebraska.

GOOD STATS FOR THE WRs

Ohio State’s receiving corps includes a top six group of players who all have at least 500 career receiving yards and at least 34 career receptions. Receivers have caught 83 percent of the passes this year for Ohio State: 211 of 265.
Scouting Sparty

SERIES HISTORY

Ohio State leads the all-time series against Michigan State, 31-15. In the Urban Meyer era, the Buckeyes own a 4-2 record against the Spartans. Three of the six matchups have been decided by seven points or less.

FYI ON MSU

Michigan State enters Saturday’s contest with the nation’s top-ranked run defense, allowing an average of just 71.7 yards per game. The Spartans have allowed over 100 yards rushing just twice this season – vs. Penn State (205) and Michigan (183) – while holding opponents under 50 yards on four occasions. They are allowing an average of just 2.5 yards per carry.

Linebacker Joe Bachie leads the defense with 68 tackles, including 6.5 tackles for loss, one sack, one interception and ﬁve pass breakups.

Offensively, Quarterback Brian Lewerke, an honorable mention All-Big Ten player in 2017, is completing 56 percent of his passes in eight starts for 1,740 yards (217.5 yards/game) with eight TDs and eight interceptions. He is also second on the team with 68 rushing attempts.